What does the future hold for gospel work on the net?

I wish I knew where technology was going so I could get ahead of it. :-)

I don't have a crystal ball, but I see a few things that could develop into major trends. First of all, the persistent, always on and wired world is going to grow and expand. What this could mean for the Gospel on the Internet is that the ability to produce and distribute content is going to move "down" from organizations to small groups and individuals. For example, tonight I streamed an academy school program over the Internet with nothing more than a camera and a computer. Not that many years ago such a thing would have required a studio and lots of equipment and money. I did it free via a video streaming website. And with only a few hours notice we had 18 people in attendance. With that in mind, what is to prevent a church congregation, small group or individual to start pushing out their own content with nothing more than a computer, a camera and a decent computer connection? This is both empowering and destabilizing at the same time.

I see the church organization continuing to follow, albeit from a distance, the technological changes as they occur. Email is already the standard and expected form of communication. It's only a matter of time before administrators are blogging or even streaming their perspectives to the church at large. I don't know if that degree of transparency will be readily embraced or how soon, but it is already happening with pastors, teachers and other church employers, so it is only a matter of time before this percolates "up" to the various levels of church organization.

But what I find most exciting is how the barriers to communication are continually being broken down. The other day I was at my computer when my Google chat window popped up and here was someone who watches our Hope Sabbath School program from a Middle Eastern country wanting to talk to me from an Internet cafe in some crowded Middle Eastern city. And for the next several minutes we talked of their challenges and struggles and joys as a Christian in that place and suddenly I was bypassing all those mission reports and DVDs (nothing wrong with them) and communicating directly with a fellow believer half way around the world. So while the Internet allows a church like Forest Lake to communicate from one-to-many, it also allows many, previously unable, to talk to the one.

For me, using the Internet to share the Gospel is just a means to an end. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9, somewhere around verse 23 I think, that he used every means possible to reach everyone possible so that some might be saved. That's how I see Web Ministry: it's another means to reach everyone possible so that some might be saved.

--delwin